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The word “audit” usually scares people. In the context of a customer retention and loyalty programs, however, an audit helps you understand where the biggest return on investment (ROI) potential is.

Loyalty Program Audit

An audit (usually qualified as a “loyalty audit,” an “program audit,” etc.) is a non biased look at your company’s loyalty program, email marketing, customer relationship management strategies, or any other part of your business that needs improvement. You know the better you design and plan a project, the easier that project will be to execute. That same logic holds true here.

Instead of jumping into a project because it’s been on the back burner or is relentlessly internally championed, you must set priorities based on their anticipated lift to the business. Many companies spend millions of dollars based on the whims of executive management or new database technology that was thought to be “cool,” though the actual value the new database provided was questionable without knowing how you plan to leverage it.

In a nutshell, an audit should inventory what’s good and bad with your current loyalty program and marketing efforts. Depending on the expertise involved, aloyalty program audit should list problems with current initiatives and suggest solutions.

The difference between doing upfront strategy in an audit and doing it during the project’s development is huge. The audit not only suggests a high-level solution, it also prioritizes the problems based on how important the solution will be to the bottom line. The audit should be both a problem identifier and a mini strategy paper. Whereas a normal development list is based on individual problems, an audit has the advantage of being able to identify symptoms of an overarching problem, then prioritizing the problem as a whole, not just its underlying symptoms. Not sure how to start? Download afree white paper that includes actionable steps you can take to audit the performance of your loyalty marketing strategies.

Plan Before You Build; Audit Before You Prioritize

As you prioritize your projects this year, take a closer look before you start development. More than likely, many of the tactical projects are really symptoms of larger customer retention or loyalty problems. Hopefully, you aren’t too close to your business to see them. Whether you do it internally or externally, an audit of your current loyalty and customer relationship marketing program is essential to understanding (and solving) the real problems affecting your bottom line.

Companies Update Loyalty Programs

These companies recognized that it was time to make a positive change in their loyalty programs. The reviewed the results and identified the opportunities to maximize results.